Great gifts for the foodies in your life

From quarterly food deliveries to fun cookbooks, here are five creative ideas for food lovers:

Global bacon: Forget the fruit o’ the month club. Belcampo had us at “bacon.” Anya Fernald’s Belcampo Meat Co. is all about sustainably, humanely raised meat, raised on their pastureland, butchered in their processing plant and sold from their storefront and restaurant at Larkspur’s Marin Country Mart. Your favorite foodie can enjoy quarterly deliveries of five pounds of bacon, made from organic, pastured Ossabaw-Berkshire heritage pigs. The January delivery, for example, includes classic bacon and guanciale, an unsmoked Italian riff that comes from the pig’s cheek — yummy in pasta, divine on pizza. April features classic and English-style back bacon, July is pancetta month, and October brings a smoky, coffee-rubbed bacon. ($299 for four deliveries of five pounds each;www.belcampomeatco.com)

Salumi socks: Tasty salted pork products and socks — could there be a better match? San Francisco chef Chris Cosentino certainly didn’t think so. Struck by the striking similarity between tube socks and sausages, Cosentino thought, “Salami comes in a tube. Why not salami socks?” Why not indeed? Everyone needs a three-pack of these socks, printed in mortadella, sopressata and prosciutto designs. (They even come with sock insurance, in case Fido absconds with your footwear or your washing machine turns sock-ivorous.) For added gift-giving oomph, pair the meat feet with edible salumi — or Cosentino’s Marvel comic book, “Wolverine in the Flesh” — from his Boccalone Salumeria in the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Marketplace. (Socks $33, www.betabrand.com. Find salumi, Boccalone gear and the Marvel comic book at www.boccalone.com)

Over-the-top cooking classes: The Bay Area’s cooking schools boast every variety of culinary experience, from dim sum how-tos at Berkeley’s Kitchen on Fire ($85) to the sommelier-in-the-making courses at Campbell’s International Culinary Center ($9,975 for the 10-week intensive course). But if you’re looking for something really unusual, the possibilities range from a hibachi-and-knife-skills class ($250) that lets you channel your inner Benihana master, to a one-on-one pasta-making lesson with Flour+Water’s Thomas McNaughton ($1,950 for six).
The Benihana experience includes a weekend class to hone your knife skills and learn the intricacies of teppanyaki, and a weeknight dinner with friends, where you’re the flashy, toque-wearing, knife-wielding star.
The McNaughton class is one of scores of completely over-the-top offerings available through Trevor Traina’s philanthropic IfOnly.com website, which pairs foodies and celebrity chefs — and a portion of the significant price tag goes to charity. McNaughton’s offerings benefit the San Francisco and Marin food banks. Michael Chiarello’s — which include dinner at his home, a signed chef jacket and personal advice on your next dinner party — help support Meals on Wheels. (www.Benihana.com and www.IfOnly.com)

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Artisanal treats: We’re all familiar with gift baskets or those tower-of-gift-boxes things. But a San Francisco company is doing something very cool: Their boxes are packed with sweets or savories from some of the Bay Area’s best food artisans. Sure, you could traipse over to Berkeley and pick up a jar of June Taylor’s candied Meyer lemon peel, race to San Carlos or Alameda for Coco Tutti chocolates (with Thai chiles!) and then head over to Lafayette or Belmont or one of the other cities with a market that carries Toffee Talk’s seriously delicious toffee. Let us know how all that schlepping works out for you. Because if you do it via Gift a Feast, owner Gypsy Achong adds an additional gift: A $5 donation to Heifer International sent on your behalf. ($45 to $80, www.giftafeast.com)

Books for cooks: Alice Waters’ new book tops our “Dear Santa” list. “The Art of Simple Food II” (Clarkson Potter, $35, 448 pages) offers 200 new seasonal recipes, from Wild Salmon Carpaccio with Chervil and Coriander to a Moroccan Asparagus and Spring Vegetable Ragout. The book is dedicated to the local farmers, who made Chez Panisse the legendary restaurant it is.
Pair the book with reservations to the restaurant — or make it a cookbook duet with “One Good Dish” (Artisan, $25.95, 256 pages), by former Chez Panisse chef David Tanis. Tanis tempts readers with recipes ranging from Tunisian Meatballs to Warm French Lentil Salad and Sweet and Nutty Salt Brittle.